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{
    "id": 595610,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/595610/?format=api",
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    "content": "Special Programmes. They continuously monitored where there is famine, lack of water, floods or mudslides; like what we had at Khuvasali in Kakamega and at one time there was a big one in Murang’a County. The responses have been ad hoc, disjointed and inadequate. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are now trying to decentralize and obligate every county, because every county is likely to encounter one form of disaster or another. It could be excess rain or some counties are prone to lightning strikes which kill school children. There are counties that once in a while you just have – like the western part of Kenya where I come from and the distinguished colleague here was our Provincial Commissioner (PC) there – a disaster strikes and an epidemic sweeps through the entire region killing all the poultry. You know what chicken means to my community. When you have your entire poultry brood wiped out, then it is a disaster that needs a response. There are times when people have eaten animal meat infested with anthrax and you know how dangerous and deadly anthrax is. We have had disasters where people drink alcohol like what happened in Mai Mahiu, Nandi, Machakos, where some people lost their eyesight or died. Those are disasters. There was a disaster in Busia where children were injected – I do not know if they were unqualified persons – and became disabled. Yesterday you saw on television a whole village in Trans-Nzoia County has a disaster befalling them because they took milk that appeared to have been contaminated. So, all these different facets of disasters need to be managed properly. Like the distinguished Senator for Kiambu said, our colleagues in county governments; governors, have given devolution a bad name. They are unaccountable in many ways, not transparent and corruption is the order of the day. That is why in setting up the Disaster Management Board, we have said that whoever is appointed, apart from the governor himself or herself and one of his or her ministers, they must be approved by the county assemblies. I hope county assemblies will be custodians of public good and ensure that the people appointed to this Board have the technical know-how, passion for the job and the interest of the disadvantaged people at heart. This is because sometimes we set up these organizations and we do is just create a gravy train. People will be appointed because they are getting jobs and not because there is something positive to humanity to do. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is something that has not been included. I have asked the Chairperson of the Committee to look at it and our Committee should really look at this at Committee Stage. This is the source of funding for the Disaster Management Committees at the counties. Currently, we know that the bulk of the budget remains with the national Government which has a duty to manage, control and mitigate disasters. I would want to see in this law, a provision that while county governments will budget some nominal funds for disaster management, the bulk of the cost of managing disasters in counties must be reimbursed as conditional grants from the national Government. If you count the national Budget like the Kshs1.2 trillion for this year and you have Kshs289 billion going to the counties, it simply means that out of the national Budget, only nine per cent has gone to the counties. You have left at the national level 91 The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}